Chapter 17: Elias's POV
After the trial, I felt… proud.
Rory had finally been accepted—not just as a werewolf, but as something new. Different, yes. But stable.
The first time I laid eyes on her, my wolf growled one word that shattered everything I thought I knew: Mate.
I was stunned.
Never, not once, did I think I'd have a second chance—not after Lisa. Not after what she did.
Lisa, my first mate, had betrayed the pack. Used our bond to climb her way into power. She never truly wanted me—only the status I held. I was young then, an Alpha and already a Council member, and she saw an opportunity.
I rejected her.
And with that, I thought the Moon would never tie me to anyone again.
Now here I am, in my twenties, carrying the legacy of two dead parents and a pack they left behind. The Nightfall Pack. The same one I now lead—thanks to the loyalty of Roshan, my beta and closest friend.
When the Council summoned me to attend a rare meeting, I hadn't expected anything extraordinary. It was my first official session.
But what I heard changed everything.
Luna Elizabeth's child—the one believed dead during the werewolf kingdom's attack—had been found. Alive. Awakened. In the human world.
Selene.
Rory.
The shock of her survival rippled through the kingdom. Her father had died during the same attack that claimed my own parents. We had mourned their family. Buried their legacy.
And now… she lives.
Only it's not just that.
She doesn't just have a wolf spirit—she has a male one. Aerie.
How could that be? A female werewolf bearing a male wolf spirit… and as his vessel?
It defied every law of nature I knew.
And then came the real blow.
When I saw her, my wolf, Manasseh, growled again.
Mate.
"No," I'd whispered. "How can my male wolf be drawn to a vessel that houses another male wolf?"
But Manasseh's voice was calm.
Because it is not Aerie I yearn for… it is something deeper. There is more within her, Elias—something hidden. Something old. Something… blocked.
I froze. "You mean—there's another spirit?"
Yes. One buried beneath the flame. The male wolf spirit—Aerie—is suppressing it. If left unchecked, it may vanish entirely. And if that happens, Rory—Selene—will suffer.
My chest clenched. "She doesn't even know."
No, Manasseh said. And that ignorance might cost her everything.
Pain rippled through me.
A spirit forcibly placed into her… one that doesn't belong. A cage of fire around something fragile and forgotten. She's in danger—and she has no idea.
"I have to help her," I said, barely breathing. "I have to protect her. Save her."
But how?
That was the question.
And I had no answer.